This invention is generally concerned with methods and apparatus for processing sheets and more particularly with methods and apparatus for identifying and stacking sheets for further processing.
This application is one of the following five related U.S. Patent Applications filed concurrently herewith by James, S. Ramsey and assigned to the same Assignee: Ser. No. 07/577,721, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,575 for Portable Apparatus for Supporting Sheets; Ser. No. 07/577,712 for Methods of Processing Sheets Having An Order Corresponding to the Order of Stored Data; Ser. No. 07/577,726 for Assembling Apparatus Including Means for Matching Coded Sheets; Ser. No. 07/577,728 for Sheet Processing Apparatus Including Memory Means Removably Connected Thereto; and Ser. No. 07/577,724, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,587 for Methods and Apparatus For Controlling An Inserter.
Large business mailers prepare and process various types of business mail utilizing high speed inserters to collate the sheets and stuff the same into envelopes for mailing purposes. Depending upon the preference of its customers, business mailers may be provided with a web of sheets, individual cut sheets, cards or forms, multi-sheet letters, or envelopes, with or without windows, or other sheets which must be stacked in trays at various sheet feeding stations of the inserter for processing purposes.
In a typical inserter, the first sheet which is fed from an insert station and into the path of travel for collation with other inserts is called a control document due to this sheet bearing a processing code which is scanned by conventional sensing structure for use by the controller of the inserter to selectively cause one or more downstream insert stations to feed sheets into the path of travel for collation with the control document.
When the sheets of a given stack that are used by an inserter are interchangeable with one another, they may be prepared by sheet processing equipment which is connected "in-line" with the insert or envelope station from which the sheets are to be fed by the inserter. This is also the case when the only stack of sheets bearing information which differs from sheet to sheet is the stack of control documents. On the other hand, if any two stacks of sheets, including for example the control document stack, includes sheets that are different from one another and must be matched with a one another, then, such sheets are preferably collated with one another "off-line" from the inserter, to ensure that matching occurs without incurring the penalty of inserter down time. Whereupon the collated sheets may be stacked at an insert station, including the first, i.e., most upstream station of the inserter, for collation with other inserts in accordance with the processing code of the control document.
Thus it is generally known in the art to provide apparatus connected in-line with an inserter for feeding like sheets to an insert or envelope station, to provide in-line apparatus for feeding control documents to the first upstream sheet feeding station of an inserter, and to provide off-line apparatus for preparing collations of control documents with matched inserts and matching inserts with one another. Accordingly:
An object of the present invention is to provide improved methods and apparatus for processing sheets and webs thereof off-line from an inserter;
Another object is to provide improved methods and apparatus for preparing stacks of sheets off-line from an inserter;
Another object is to provide methods of processing sheets having an order corresponding to the order of stored data;
Another object is to provide improved methods and apparatus for matching sheets with one another; and
Yet another object is to provide portable sheet supporting structure.